Finding a Way
by ShelbyLehnsherr
Summary: Two months after Erik's departure. *Sequel to Say Goodbye* *ERIK/CHARLES* *SLASH*


**Finding a Way **

* * *

><p><em>February 28 - 12:30PM<em>

_New York City_

It had been two months.

The first week had been the hardest, by far - somehow, he'd managed to drive Erik to the airport and return home in one piece, but the days that followed were somewhat of a blur. Winter holidays had still been in effect and that left him with very little to do; the Christmas tree and decorations had been packed away nearly as soon as they'd finished opening presents because Charles couldn't possibly dispose of the season's tree without Erik's help, and it didn't feel right to have the place look so positively cheery when only one person was residing there.

He threw himself into preparations for his classes, but even that could only go so far with kindergartners, and after the tenth attempt at a decent macaroni self-portrait, Charles had given up, leaving his portion of the office covered in bits of construction paper, empty glue sticks, and boxes of dried macaroni and taken, instead, to rereading every book on the shelf in the living room. He fell asleep on more than one occasion with both his cell phone and the landline right by his side, because as valiantly as they both tried, he and Erik had yet to figure out the changes in time zones and they'd only spoken once, and it had been a conversation that Charles was barely able to get through without his voice choking up completely.

It was Raven who found him on the fourth day, barging into the apartment with the spare key he knew he never should have given her and screeching that he needed to learn how to answer his phone before he gave her a goddamn heart attack. Truthfully, he'd been ignoring most of the calls he received unless they were from Erik, but he was sure that he'd sent his sister at least three text messages assuring her that he was fine, absolutely fine, and that there was no reason for her to leave her apartment in the middle of winter, especially when she was expecting.

Obviously, Raven had heard nothing of it. She'd taken to dropping in a few times a week over the next two months, surprising him when he returned home from the school or on weekend mornings, a smile on her face and just the right distraction he needed - Charles, they have this new parenting book at the shop down the street, want to go? or I'm craving Chinese, put on your shoes. - and he knew that he would immensely owe her somehow. Things had improved once he'd returned to teaching, and though Erik's absence was still very obviously noticeable, he'd fallen into a routine of sorts that somehow worked.

December had quickly spiraled into February. School was still in session and he couldn't help but watch with pride as his students progressed - children who had started the year without any reading comprehension or basic mathematic skills were doing wonderfully, and he wished more than ever that he could share this with Erik. Their weekly phone calls were filled with catching up on both ends, but even after they'd hung up, Charles would remember things he meant to say, tiny little details that were insignificant in the long run but important in that moment. He'd tried writing everything in an email, but that was as haphazard as a phone conversation.

It was recess and both classes on the hallway were swarming the playground - Charles had promised to keep an eye on Moira's students as well as she ran to the office to pick up a few things - and he watched amusedly as they ran about through the mulch and scrambled over equipment, caught up in games of hide and seek and tag. The weather was chilly, even for February in New York, and he buried his hands in the pockets of his coat as another gust of wind swept through the playground.

"Thank you so much for watching them." Moira said, knocking him out of his peaceful reverie as she walked up beside him. "I was running so late this morning and didn't have a chance to run by my mail box...you know how it is."

"Of course," Charles smiled. He understood completely; it was difficult enough to keep a class of five-year-old children under control, much less escape long enough to run to the office or restroom at any given moment. "It was no trouble at all. They're all occupying themselves perfectly."

Moira smiled again and turned her attention back to the children; she'd just opened her mouth to speak when turmoil erupted in the form of a well-timed shove and a wail from the victim. With a sigh, she turned back to Charles and shook her head, marching off to calm the discord. A few feet away, she stopped and looked back over her shoulder as though something had just dawned on her.

"There was a message for you in the office, I nearly forgot." she called quickly. "A woman called for you...Emma Frost? She said it was urgent and that you should call her back as quickly as possible."

She turned away from him again, but by the time she looked back toward the spot where Charles had been standing, he was already gone.

The phone rang five times before Emma answered, but those five rings were the longest of his life. He'd always been a worrier, but hearing the words Emma Frost and urgent and call back as quickly as possible did not bode well by any means, and his stomach was in knots by the time he'd reached the office. The last time he'd spoken to Erik had been Tuesday afternoon and it was now Friday; anything could have happened in that time, and he tried not to think about the myriad of accidents and predicaments that could have risen in that time.

"I'm not calling about Erik, so you can go ahead and let out that breath you're holding."

Emma's cool voice greeted him in the place of a hello, and he could practically see her smile. It was only by chance that he'd befriended Shaw's right hand woman in the first place; their first Christmas together, Erik had sheepishly asked if Charles would come with him to the company's annual holiday party, and after a few glasses of champagne and an evening of sharing horror stories about the work schedules of their respective dates, he and Emma had struck up an easy friendship that had somehow lasted. He knew that she'd been left behind in New York too, seemingly placed in charge of much of the company's running while Shaw was overseas.

"Hello, Emma." he said somewhat foolishly, running a hand through his hair as soon as he realized that Erik was perfectly fine even if he was capable of giving Charles the biggest fright of his life thousands of miles away. "I'm guessing that if this isn't an emergency call, it certainly isn't social, since I'm still at work."

"I'm calling because Sebastian's requested that I fly out tomorrow morning." Emma said. "Apparently, the reality of spending nine months all by himself isn't as pleasant as he thought it would be. So that leaves it up to you, sugar. You coming with me or what?"

* * *

><p><em>March 1 - 10:55PM<br>Tokyo, Japan_

Emma really was a force to be reckoned with when she set her mind to it.

Shaw had only requested one first class ticket from New York to Tokyo with no intentions of flying anyone else overseas, but the smiling agent in the pinstripe suit never stood a chance as soon as Emma stepped up to the counter, clad in a sleek white dress and heels that seemed more appropriate for a dinner party than a twelve hour flight. He stammered and grew flustered and assured her that the flight was booked, even first class, but after fifteen minutes and a handful of blinding white smiles that could have shattered glass, Charles was not only in possession of a round trip ticket for the weekend, but a round trip ticket that put him in the seat directly next to Emma. Had he not been so giddy at the thought of seeing Erik, he would have felt bad for the poor chap whose seat he'd taken.

The flight passed as slow as any twelve hour flight could; Emma flipped through magazine after magazine and pursed her lips at him when his knee kept bobbing nervously. "You've still got it pretty bad, don't you, honey?" she'd asked with a smile, and all he could do was laugh and nod and try not to think about the fact that she was probably thinking he was the biggest fool on the face of the planet. He'd been unbuckling his seatbelt as soon as the plane had hit the ground and pulling his bag from the overhead compartment before the overhead lights had flicked on.

It was the drive to the hotel that killed him - he'd never been to Japan, and he knew that he should have been admiring the city and his surroundings, but he couldn't focus long enough. Emma sat serenely beside him in the backseat of the town car, her hands folded neatly in her lap, but she turned to him with another smile when they pulled into the front entrance of one of the city's most luxurious hotels.

"Room 834, sugar." Emma said. "Have a nice weekend."

Moments later, he was standing in front of room 834's door, a huge smile already plastered on his face. He raised his hand and knocked twice; through the door, he could just barely hear the murmur of a television, footsteps, and a grumbled curse as the lock slid back and the door was pulled open, revealing Erik's shocked face.

"Surprise."

* * *

><p><em>March 1 - 10:15PM<br>Tokyo, Japan_

The day started and ended just as all the others had. A rather irritable Erik Lehnsherr woke promptly at six AM, took a quick shower, dressed in clothing that was far from his usual formal attire, and met Shaw downstairs in the hotel dining room for breakfast. Not much would be said during that half-hour, aside from Shaw going over the plans for the day and declaring _exactly _what had to be done by _exactly _what time. More times than not, thanks to some of Stark's incompetent associates, the deadlines would not be met, thus resulting in Tony Stark and himself staying behind to work out all the kinks they made along the way.

For most of the day, it was Erik's job to supervise all of the other men on the project. It was his responsibility to be sure that things were being done in accordance with Shaw's seemingly endless demands. If things were not up to par, it would be his job to fix any mistakes; Shaw had no qualms in regards to how long such tasks might take. A vast majority of his evenings were spent at the job site: his tired, aching muscles straining as he put them to work for days and hours on end.

As the day came to a close, Erik could count on one of Shaw's cars escorting him back to the hotel. Throughout the twenty minute drive, Erik managed to nod off a couple times, only to be pulled from his almost-sleep when the car came to a sudden stop. Least to say, Shaw's personal driver was not nearly as respectable as he should have been. However, he was far too tired to argue, and merely got out of the car without muttering so much as a 'thank you'.

Despite the late hours of the night, the lobby of the hotel remained rather busy. Patrons gathered in small groups, talking jovially amongst themselves in a language Erik didn't make an effort to bother understanding. They would shoot him brief, sidelong glances, wrinkling their noses at the current state of his clothing. While they were dressed in business suits, his pants and shirt were stained with grease and littered with smudges of oil. A part of Erik was thankful, because working in a suit wasn't nearly as comfortable.

The soft dings from the elevator were the only thing that kept him awake as it ascended to the eighth floor. As soon as the doors parted, he proceeded to advance down the long hallway to the room he was assigned for the next several months. The thought of the amount Shaw had to pay for him to occupy this suite made him cringe. With a haggard swipe of his keycard, the door unlocked and let Erik inside. The heavy door closed loudly behind him, leaving him alone yet another night.

He immediately padded over to the large bathroom, lazily shedding his clothes in his path to the shower. Erik paid no mind to the fact that each article was strewn about the white tile floor, knowing full well after he left in the morning, housekeeping would have them collected to be washed and hung up before he returned that night. He turned on the shower, waiting impatiently for the water to warm up before he stepped inside. A soft sigh of relief slipped past Erik's lips as the lukewarm water pleasantly sprayed over his tired muscles. Hours' worth of dirt was washed away, returning his skin to its normally flawless state.

The strong scent of soap lingered freshly in the air as he exited the shower, drying himself off and slipping into a pair of black cotton pants and a plain white shirt. An abdominal shiver ran up his spine as he opened the door, an onslaught of cold air eloping his worn body. Now that he had taken a shower, it would take him at least another hour before he got tired again. This is where the night usually passed in a blur.

Erik lowered himself down onto one of the two beds and instinctively reached over for the remote on the nearby end table. Most of the time he didn't even bother flipping through the channels; there were very few American networks, and he was far too exhausted to focus his attention on reading the subtitles. He sank back into the pillows, his hand now hanging loosely onto the remote once he'd settled on a channel.

The soft murmur emanating through the speakers very nearly had Erik doze off, until two knocks on his door immediately pulled him from his sleepy stupor. He released a shaky sigh, then mumbled a few curses as he was forced to get out of bed, as it could have very well been Shaw himself.

Erik agitatedly fumbled with the lock on the door before pulling it open; his heart could have stopped when he saw who was now standing in front of him.

"Surprise."

Truth be told, Erik was just as surprised as he looked. He was waiting to wake up from some sort of cruel dream, but Charles remained standing in front of him. A grin tugged at the corners of Erik's own lips; it was one of those genuine smiles that flashed his perfect teeth and made the corners of his eyes crinkle. His knees could have buckled, but in the meantime, he managed to keep his composure. He could think of nothing else to do other than pull his husband into a tight embrace, eyes closing as he attempted to fight off tears.

They stood there for a moment staring at one another - Charles wasn't sure if Erik was going to manage to actually speak or if he was simply going to stand there staring as if he expected Charles to vanish like a wisp of smoke. His mouth spread into one of those grins though, the type that nearly split his face in two and made Charles go a little weak in the knees. He couldn't help but smile in return, and he was opening his mouth to speak when Erik pulled him into a hug, holding onto him so tightly that Charles felt a lump rise in his throat in response.

Burying his face in Erik's chest, he realized just how much he'd missed him over the past two months. Erik didn't belong here, alone in a city thousands of miles away, but back in New York at the apartment with him. He was being incredibly selfish, he knew, as this project could mean big things for Erik - and he wanted nothing more than to see Erik succeed and achieve anything he wanted or deserved, which in Charles' opinion was nothing short of the world - but for the moment, he was content, because the knot that had established a permanent residence in the pit of his stomach had loosened and he was happy.

"I missed you."

Erik's eyelids slowly parted as he bent his head down to place a kiss on Charles temple. His heart was beating wildly in his chest, for he was convinced that at any moment Charles could just disappear. "I've missed you, too." Came his reply as he tugged the shorter brunette into his hotel room and nudged the door shut with his foot.

He wasn't quite sure how long Charles was able to stay, but at that moment, it didn't even matter.

* * *

><p><strong>-End of Part Two-<strong>


End file.
